June 29, 2008

Mocha Mint Cookies

I was going to post the recipe for my Fourth of July Cookie tonight,
but a Starbucks mocha mint frappuccino pointed me in a new direction as Jon and I were walking home from the park this afternoon. (Isn't the Starbucks naming convention for sizes
completely stupid? Small, medium, and large are perfectly descriptive enough...why front with the pseudo-Italiano barista speak? But I digress.) Don't worry: I'll post the Fourth of July Cookie later this week--just in time for you to enjoy during the fireworks.

I've had the Mocha Mint Cookie on The List since the beginning, but this recipe is a little different from--and an improvement upon--my original. I upped the coffee flavor by using both instant espresso powder and brewed coffee, and I used easily accessible Junior Mints candies instead of less common mint chips. I also use three kinds of chocolate--cocoa powder, milk chocolate, and semisweet chocolate--to compliment the coffee and mint flavors.

Make sure you freeze the cut-up Junior Mints before you add them to the dry ingredients, and also make sure you refrigerate the dough before you form the dough balls. If you don't keep the Junior Mints chilled before baking, they will melt quickly in the oven and "bleed out" of your cookies. Makes 4 dozen cookies.

When Nestlé's discontinued their mint chocolate chips a few years ago, I wrote to them about where I could get them. They were kind enough to send me a "recipe" for a substitute. I thought I'd share it with you.

Creating Mint Morsels Using Semisweet Morsels

Place 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Nestlé Toll House Semisweet Chocolate Morsels in a medium, heavy-duty plastic bag or container. Add ¼ tsp. pure peppermint extract; seal bag or cover container. Shake to coat. Store for 24 hrs to allow sufficient time for morsels to absorb the mint extract.
Don't have 24 hrs to spare? Here is what we recommend. The results are almost as good as waiting 24 hrs:
Place 2 cups Nestlé Toll House Semisweet Chocolate Morsels in a medium, heavy-duty plastic bag or container. Add ½ tsp. pure peppermint extract; seal bag or cover container. Shake to coat.
The mint-favored morsels can be added directly to your recipe or melted according to morsel package directions.
Note: Peppermint Flavoring and Pure Peppermint extract can be used interchangeably.

Thanks, Lorraine. The Junior Mints have a more "natural" flavor than the green mint chips I bought online and used in the first iteration of this recipe. And you're right...they add another touch of chocolate. To quote Ina Garten: "How bad can that be?"

Oh. My. God.
These are amazing. And I've only tasted the dough.
Instead of using Junior Mints, I used what I had on hand (ground up coffee beans into my own version of espresso powder, Andes Creme De Menthe Baking chips, and Cappuccino chips I found at World Market).
Amazing.
My favorite, by far.